JOHN J. STEWART

JOHN J. STEWART was for many years an outstanding Deacon in the Green River Church. Information concerning him has been difficult to obtain and is far from being as complete as one would wish. What has been found is now given. According to the Ohio County Census of 1900 Brother Stewart was born in Ohio County, Kentucky, in April, 1854. His death occurred not far from the year 1932, but we have no record of when it occurred or where he is buried. He was the first son and second child born to Granville T. Stewart (b. c. 1825 - d.c. 1895) and Margaret A. G. Cope (b.c. 1827 in Tennessee), who were married on an Ohio County license on August 15, 1894. Their daughter, Sarah A. Stewart (b.c. 1850), married George L. O'Bannon on January 11, 1867; while daughter, Louellan J. Stewart (b.c. 1857), married William M. Flener (b.c. 1852) on December 21, 1876. He was the older brother of Mary Wilson (Flener) Stewart, who was married to John J. Stewart on an Ohio County license on January 30th, 1879. Both of them were the children of William Anderson Flener (1814-1881) and Mary Ann (Snodgrass) Flener (1816-1894), who were married in Butler County about 1833. Brother Stewart had one other sister listed in the 1870 Ohio County Census - Martha Stewart (b.c. 1865). 

John J. Stewart (1854-1932) and Mary Wilson (Flener) Stewart (b. January 31, 1858 - d. January 16, 1929) became the parents of at least four children. They were: Zoda Stewart (b. 1879); Avery Stewart (b. June, 1886); Delmer Stewart (b. January 4, 1890 - d. October 4, 1918); and Lorene (Stewart) Reid (b. August 17, 1898 - d. March 30, 1961), who married Clarence O. Reid (b. July 30, 1894 - d. February 1, 1967), both of whom are buried in the Green River Cemetery, as is her brother, Delmer Stewart. Mrs. Stewart (nee Mary Wilson Flener) united with the Green River Church by Christian Experience and Baptism in April, 1871, being baptized by Pastor William Carey Taylor, Sr. At the time of her death, in 1929, she had been a member of the Church for nearly fifty-eight years. Brother Granville Stewart (d. June 25, 1892), the father of John J. Stewart, united with the Green River Church by letter in August, 1849, at the same time he contracted marriage, as noted above. His wife, Margaret A. G. (Cope) Stewart united with the Church by Christian Experience and Baptism in January, 1850, and was baptized by pastor Alfred Taylor. Brother Stewart became of member of the Green River Church by letter, in 1888, and continued therein until his death. He served on two occasions as the Church Clerk - from August, 1888 through December, 1894; and again from September, 1909 through December, 1915. On September 29, 1889, he, together with W. P. Austin, were elected as Deacons of the Church and were ordained on October 27, 1889, by Pastors A. B. Smith and J. N. Jarnagin and H. V. Royal who acted as the Presbytery. He served about forty years in the office. In February, 1909, he became a Trustee by Church action, but the length of his service is difficult to determine. He served as a Messenger to the Association in 1902, 1907, 1912-1915, 1919, 1921-1923, and 1925. He served as the Sunday School Superintendent, in 1912. 

From: A Sesquicentennial History of the Green River Missionary Baptist Church 1836 - 1986, Written and Compiled by Wendell Holmes Rone, Sr., For the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Church, 1987.